Niche skills vital to bag job

New Delhi: Polarisation of the labour market is deepening amid rising wage inequality and this trend is likely to continue as demand for niche skills is only going to increase in coming years, say experts. According to HR experts, there is high unemployment alongside unfilled jobs and at the same time low-skill or not so niche skill jobs are continuously being automated thus leaving the once employed, unemployed with no much future.

"The demand for niche skills and upcoming technologies is only going to increase in the coming 10 years, and is a reality in the Indian marketplace today," SHRM India Senior Knowledge Advisor Dedeepya John said. Matt Krentz, Senior Partner and Managing Director at the Boston Consulting Group's Chicago office also believes "as technology is increasingly applied to increase productivity, those without the relevant skills and technologies will find it difficult to move beyond low wage jobs".

According to a recent ManpowerGroups report, though new ways of working are emerging, yet inequality and skills gap is widening. The noted, there is high unemployment alongside unfilled jobs, rising productivity with stagnant wages, and economic recovery with declining upward mobility for many.

Prashant Bhatnagar, VP-Hiring and Staffing, SapientNitro India said organisations are having to make up for skills gap by implementing stringent hiring processes followed by elaborate capability building programmes.